Planet Ice Project - Dudley Town Centre: Market Viability Analysis & Economic Impact Assessment

A new ice rink development has been proposed for Dudley town centre. The project includes a 2,000-seat ice rink, for which there is the aspiration for it to be the home stadium for a new professional ice hockey team, and a publicly accessible ice rink. The development will also include a 139-bed hotel, to support visitors to the rink that require overnight stays, and also the wider Dudley business and leisure visitor market.

This Market Viability Analysis and Economic Impact Assessment is being commissioned by the West Midlands Growth Company, developers Planet Ice and Dudley MBC. The requirement is for two separate, but interlinked, research and analysis reports, summarised below and detailed further in the following sections:

a) The Financial Case - provide market evidence for the overall projects and various schemes, i.e., the number of visitors and their spend potential. This will need to identify the market for the ice rink and the hotel, demonstrating the overall viability of project through a 10-year financial case to assess if the investment is financially viable. The financial case should include the annual revenues and costs, and cash flows. The revenue side need to be built on an agreed addressable market for the ice rink and hotel, a realistic sales forecast, and value based/competitive pricing as appropriate. The cost side of the business case needs to include capital investment, operational costs, management costs, financing costs and other relevant costs.

A clear methodology be set out to agree the assumptions underpinning the financial case. The model should be in excel, unlocked, open, documented and all parties involved (DMBC, Planet Ice and WMGC) have full rights to use after the project.

b) Economic Impact Assessment - based on the details in the market assessment, to analyse the economic impact of the project at the Dudley Borough level. This will need to consider the direct, indirect and induced effects of the project, setting out the jobs created, the GVA impact and the wider benefits of the project. Further detail on this is given later in this brief.